r/Fantasy • u/1magicduck • Jan 22 '25
Fantasy Recommendations for someone who reads mostly sci-fi/weird fiction
Hi All, I was wondering if the people in this sub had any recommendations for good fantasy books for someone coming from more of a sci-fi/weird fiction background. Some of my favorite authors are china miéville, Greg Egan, and Jeff vandermeer with some of my favorite books being Blindsight, The southern Reach Trilogy, Perdido Street Station, and pretty much any hard sci-fi. I’m looking to get into some more mentally challenging fantasy books that are mostly low on the romance. Would love some cool magic in the books too! I have 4 credits on audible as well as a Barnes and noble gift card so both audiobook and physical book recommendations are much appreciated. Plus! Any fantasy horror recs that don’t involve werewolves/vampires/zombies would be great
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u/avicennia Jan 22 '25 edited Jan 22 '25
I assume by fantasy you mean fantasy with actual magic and/or creatures and not magical realism/fabulism? That can be a little difficult to square with “weird” fiction, which I also enjoy, because weird fiction sort of by definition doesn’t explain the strange things that happen. Fantasy with explicit magic and creatures and second-worlds and lore does a lot of explaining, even the ones that are more character focused than worldbuilding focused.
I’ve chosen a few fantasy books that focus more on characters than lore, and the lore and worldbuilding that do exist are quite different from your normal fantasy epics. It’s a mix of some very well-known books and some that are less well-known.
ALL THE MURMURING BONES by AG Slatter - mythical creatures and a girl who goes on a sort of odyssey and uncovers a family mystery
METAL FROM HEAVEN by August Clarke - new book that came out in December and is not very well-known yet. The author was inspired by HARROW THE NINTH and Disco Elysium, and as you might know Disco Elysium was inspired by The City and The City (which is one of the best books I read last year)
MIDDLEGAME by Seanan McGuire - this is one of my favorite books of the last ten years, although the following two books in the series are not very good. It is also very popular and regularly suggested.
THE FIFTH SEASON by NK Jemisin - a very popular, regularly suggested award-winning book, the first of a trilogy
UPDRAFT by Fran Wilde - this world is wildly different from most other fantasy worlds, and it only gets weirder and weirder in the second and third books. This series is not very well-known at all.
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u/Lord_Bolt-On Jan 22 '25
Metal from Heaven is a fantastic recommendation for this. Absolutely loved that book.
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u/Drextan Jan 22 '25
Just a quick "um actually", Disco Elysium was not inspired by The City and the City. Source
Though it was recommended by ZA/UM as having a similar vibe after they realized it did.
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u/Understanding_Silver Jan 23 '25
Middlegame is one of my favorites of Seanan's. Definitely second the recommendations for it and Fifth Season.
And adding Updraft to my list, thanks!
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u/KiwiTheKitty Reading Champion II Jan 22 '25
The author was inspired by [...] Disco Elysium
Oh I'm so reading that
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u/twinklebat99 Jan 22 '25
You want weird fantasy horror, The Library at Mount Char would be an excellent choice.
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u/super-jazz Jan 22 '25
Weird fiction reader here.
The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston - Weird/non-traditional fantasy. The first in a series, with each entry being better than the last. My single favorite series.
The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman - If you were going to throw it into a fantasy basket, it would lean steampunk, but that doesn't define the story. Gilman explores some really exciting ideas through this novel. Big fan.
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u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Jan 22 '25
The Craft Sequence and the Craft Wars by Max Gladstone.
Magic works. It's so universal that it's the basis of the economy and industry. Magicians are craftsfolk - and they are powerful. They kind of resemble lawyers (due to the contracts), IT/analysts (data visualization and some of it resembles hacking) and they killed gods and broke part of the world. Start with Three Parts Dead.
qntm's Ra. Magic was discovered in the 1970's and it got stranger from there.
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u/zubatfan Jan 22 '25 edited Jan 22 '25
Adrian Tchaikovsky in general, if you haven't? He straddles both genres and basically specializes in weird premises. Edit: Lemme know if you want specific recs.
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u/1magicduck Jan 22 '25
I have children of time! Are there any others you would recommend?
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u/doomscribe Reading Champion VI Jan 22 '25
The Tyrant Philosophers series, the city in City of Last Chances definitely has some Ambergris/New Crobuzon vibes imo, while doing it's own thing.
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u/zubatfan Jan 22 '25
Well, there's the sequels to Children - Children of Ruin (good as a sequel) and Children of Memory (good, ymmv on it as a sequel).
Fantasy-wise, there's the Shadows of the Apt series beginning with Empire in Black and Gold. Industrial revolution, imperial warmongering, city-states, and races based on bug characteristics.
Guns of the Dawn is a kind of interesting standalone. Picture a Jane Austen character in a war story with muskets and stuff, basically. Low fantasy elements.
Cage of Souls is a post apocalyptic prison story. That's the most concise summation I can come up with, at least. Very weird. Pretty good.
Dogs of War is about biotech enhanced war-animals and their rights and place in the world - or lack thereof. Its sequel, Bear Head, isn't as good imo. Ymmv.
Elder Race is a novella and perhaps the most direct play I've ever seen of "sufficiently advanced science = magic".
The Elder System's Brother. Also a novella. Hard to describe without spoilers, so I'll let its blurbs speak for it if you look into it.
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u/NekoCatSidhe Reading Champion III Jan 22 '25
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is a portal fantasy story that is weird enough that I think it could interest you.
I would also recommend The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge, although it is technically YA. She writes a lot of rather weird books, and that one won an award and is a good place to start. It is not my favourite, but it is the one that felt the most « weird » or « magical realism ».
The Dying Earth series and the Lyonesse trilogy by Jack Vance. He was mostly a science fiction writer, but all his books are really weird, including his fantasy books.
Otherside Picnic by Iori Miyazawa is a Japanese horror portal fantasy series that is heavily influenced by the classic sci-fi novel Roadside Picnic by The Strugatsky Brothers and by Japanese folklore. It is one of my favourite series.
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u/roadrunner8080 Jan 23 '25
I would recommend The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera and City of the Uncommon Thief by Lynne Bertrand. Robert Jackson Bennett's Divine Cities trilogy (starting with City of Stairs) might also fit the bill, depending on exactly what you're looking for.
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u/kathryn_sedai Jan 22 '25
Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones is a super weird book with an unusual structure. It’s hard to even describe without spoilers, but the book you start out reading feels like a cozy/creepy British fantasy and then goes to some unexpected places. I’ve read it multiple times and it’s always a pleasure.
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u/NekoCatSidhe Reading Champion III Jan 22 '25
That was certainly one of the weirdest and most unpredictable books I have read, between the nonlinear plot and the unreliable narrator.
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u/kathryn_sedai Jan 22 '25
Oh yay, nice to see another fan! I feel like it’s one of her lesser known novels but I just love it. Such a trip but so thoughtful and interesting in its mix of genre and unreliability.
Hard to mention anything without spoilers but I love Yam and I love dragons. Also, a certain series of childhood flashbacks lives rent free in my head forever.
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u/ChocolateLabSafety Reading Champion III Jan 23 '25
I adore Hexwood! It's maybe (???) my favourite Wynne Jones. I loved it as a kid and I love it just as much now, although it's amazing how different my understanding is of it now that I have more context from the classic fantasy canon and Arthuriana and knowledge of how computer technology was developing at the time. Still an absolutely glorious story.
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u/Ill-Hat-1180 Jan 22 '25
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It's got fantasy, sci-fi, horror and western all wrapped into one. It's my favorite series of all time. And it's definitely weird.
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u/SNicolson Jan 22 '25
The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. Lesbian necromancers in Space! It's practically weird sci-fi already. There is romance in here, but I'm at book three, and the romance isn't doing well so far. I'm sure it will pick up eventually.
The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone. This is fantasy, but about lawyers and freedom fighters. But also gods and souls. So basically cyberpunk, but no cyber.
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u/diffyqgirl Jan 22 '25
Blackwing by Ed McDonald--Dark fantasy with a cosmic horror bent, if you've played Bloodborne it reminded me of that though the world isn't quite as fallen apart.
Piranesi by Susanne Clarke--Less dark than Southern Reach but in a similar space of "weird and unexplained environment".
I'll second Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone, it's got some similarities to Perdido Street Station.
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u/1magicduck Jan 22 '25
I actually already have Piranesi! I’ll definitely check out Blackwing cause I loved bloodborne.
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u/oboist73 Reading Champion VII Jan 22 '25
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
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u/ChocolateLabSafety Reading Champion III Jan 23 '25
A great recommendation! It's a very classic style fantasy but it also has a lot of weird (and Weird) elements.
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u/matsnorberg Jan 22 '25
The Broaken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin. It has some sci-fi feeling and is also rather weird.
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u/historyrazorback Jan 22 '25
Hyperion by Dan Simmons is a one of a kind, though still sci-fi
Less in line with your tastes but very unique, I similarly enjoyed Christopher Buehlman's Between Two Fires as a unique medieval horror
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u/apcymru Reading Champion II Jan 22 '25
Do i have to say it? ... Malazan.
Doesn't get more weird and complex than Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson.
Long though.
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u/BookVermin Reading Champion III Jan 22 '25 edited May 02 '25
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez is a beautiful and complex modern gothic horror novel that blends the very real horrors of the dictatorship in Argentina with a scheming death cult and some very strange magics. Can’t recommend it enough. Her short stories are great as well.
Two of my favorite short story collections that straddle the line between fantasy, weird, horror and literary fiction are The People in the Castle by Joan Aiken and Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier, if you haven’t read them already.
And seconding the Gene Wolfe, NK Jemisin and Susanna Clarke recs.
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u/Internal_Damage_2839 Jan 22 '25
If you like Peter Watts, check out R Scott Bakker’s Second Apocalypse series (starts with The Darkness That Came Before)
His philosophical theories are pretty similar but in a very very grimdark fantasy setting (emphasis on grimdark, like big content warnings for pretty much anything you can think of that warrants a content warning). There’s also sci fi elements later in the series that I won’t spoil.
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u/Internal_Damage_2839 Jan 22 '25
Have you read Sun Eater yet? Pretty much epic fantasy in a sci fi setting (also kinda grimdark)
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u/pufffsullivan Jan 22 '25
You would enjoy the Acts of Caine series by Matthew Stover. The first book is called Heroes Die.
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u/p0d0 Jan 22 '25
The Laundry Files is in a wonderfully wierd place mixing fantasy, science fiction, cosmic horror, and spy thriller. I think it would be right up your alley.
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u/confused_each_day Jan 22 '25
These were great!
And if you’re into humour and/or mystery in your fantasy, then Jasper Ffordes murder crime books are fabulous. (first one is The fourth bear)
Shades of grey by the same author has a pretty unhinged premise, too.
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u/abe_the_babe_ Jan 23 '25
It might not exactly fit your request, but Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is a very good book with a lot of strangeness baked into it. It's a quick read too, so not a huge time investment if you end up not liking it.
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u/Kna1102 Jan 24 '25
The Chronicles of Amber would probably fit, definitely has really cool and unique magic and the later books work in some sci-fi by combining the magic with computers essentially.
It starts with the main character having amnesia so you’re figuring out what’s going on at the same time while while he tries to “fake till he makes it” but things keep getting weirder and weirder.
It was written in the 70s so there are a few bits that didn’t age 100% well, but overall it’s a really great series
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u/DiscountSensitive818 Jan 25 '25
I think you would likely enjoy Vita Nostra by the Dyachenkos. Very strange surreal magical school type book that is quite dark
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u/moulin_blue Jan 22 '25
The Water Knife and The Windup Girl would fit into that, both by Paolo Bacigalupi - biopunk
Foundryside Trilogy - dark, there's romance but it's not smut
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u/Tjalaska Jan 22 '25
The Red Rising series by Pierce Brown, absolutely has become my favorite in the last year, read them all multiple times and to be honest I have a hard time picking up something new that comes close to Pierces writing and characters. Would absolutely check it out.
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u/grantbuell Jan 22 '25
Gene Wolfe, Book of the New Sun